Reef has really only played forward for a considerable time and he has been servicable. Was a very good mid at under 18s level and looks good when he has pinched hit there.
We are now playing him down back where he can match up on taller/smaller players and with a bit of development take advantage of his speed breaking away from defence.
Issue has been his tank. Do you use him on and off bench in bursts in the middle e.g Burns/Swan.
If I wanted to beat Swans that last quarter he would have been my ultimate sub as his pace would have been able to keep up with Warner/Heeney and create more pressure around stoppage. They made us look slow.
I am not over rating him. But players like him are rare. He might be the quickest on our list he is 190cm plus. He has the ability to win the ball out of the middle. He has been ok as a leading forward averaging more than a goal a game this year.
What if we get Condon and he wins every tap out. McInness, Allan and Daicos running onto lose balls will be hard to stop.
He is a player you stick with particularly watching Hawthorn's use of bigger bodies and he is very similar to Hawks utlity Conor Nash who is now 26 and gone from Dud to good AFL player.
I hope you’re right! We need some wins on the development front.
But how can his tank still be so poor after four pre-seasons? If it’s still bad now it’s surely never going to good enough to play midfield at senior level. The Swan/Burns comparison is terrible - those two could run all day and accumulate huge possession numbers, whilst hitting the scoreboard too.
As a forward Reef has shown glimpses but never the break-out game needed to show everyone that he can be relied upon to play as a Best 23 forward. He has never looked instinctive as a forward to me.
So, the way I see it, playing him down back is not about broadening him as a player, it’s more like the last roll of the dice. If he doesn’t make it as a HB flanker, then I think it might be the end of the road. I do however think this is his best chance. There’s much less natural instinct needed to play in defence.
More broadly, we can’t afford to have a 5,6,7 year project players. They need to develop faster than that or be moved on. Especially when they’re selected with relatively high draft picks.
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